RamView, September 24, 2006
From The Couch
(Report and opinions on the game.)
Game #3: Rams 16, Big Dead 14

The Rams win a game in Arizona that was so crazy you couldn't make it
up. A fumble by each team in the final 2:00? Arizona had a chance at a
75-yard FG with 0:00 left? Then didn't? If this had been a movie, the
script would be criticized for lack of realism, but it's a very real,
very relieving, win for the Rams.

Position by position:
* QB: Marc Bulger (21-31-309) is getting it together, and not a moment
too soon. After his typical slow start, the timing and rhythm of the
Ram passing game looked much better than it has this season. In the
2nd, the Rams' first TD drive came from 91 passing yards. Marc quickly
hit wide open Torry Holt for a 45-yard catch-and-run out to midfield,
beat a blitz with a screen pass to Steven Jackson for 26, hit Holt for
13 down to the 10, and hit Torry for the TD with a perfect pass at the
back of the end zone. Driving again in the 2nd, Marc converted a key
3rd-and-5 by rolling a little right and hitting Tony Fisher for 6. That
led to a FG and a Ram 13-7 lead. Marc came out throwing after halftime,
a 16-yard screen to Aaron Walker and a 28-yard pass to Isaac Bruce,
leading toward another FG. Now up 16-7, Bulger and the Rams had a
chance to put Arizona away, and Marc hit Isaac with a sweet sideline
bomb for 45 yards. Shaun McDonald fumbled the next pass away, though,
and Marc failed at other chances to put the Big Dead away. 1st- and
3rd- down incompletions early in the 4th kept the ball, and the clock,
from moving. The Rams were still up 16-14 heading toward the 2:00
warning, but Marc committed a bungle that threatened to put the whole
season in a tailspin, fumbling away a handoff that put Arizona in prime
FG position. Luckily for Marc, Kurt Warner was the hero for the Rams
again today, or Rams Nation would be abuzz about Bulger blowing the
game. Instead we can look at his good day passing, hitting a lot of
good sideline passes, throwing no INTs, throwing one TD and having a
should-have-been TD pass denied. All that's forgotten, though, if Kurt
doesn't return the favor after Marc's fumble. Marc's getting the Ram
passing game back on track, but, much like the other St. Louis team,
he'll have do a much better job of closing out games the rest of the
season.

* RB: Steven Jackson ran for just 62 yards, but added 59 yards worth of
catches in another strong effort. Two of his biggest plays were middle
screens against blitzes. He took one for 22 in the 1st and another for
26 in the 2nd, the latter during the Rams' TD drive. On both passes he
broke at least three tackles, continuing the tough running style
expected from him. The Rams' 2nd FG was made possible by Steven's
strong effort on a 3rd-and-1 90-flip, outsprinting the Arizona defense
around the corner. He followed that with a 14-yard run up Arizona's
gut, getting the Rams inside the Arizona 10. The Rams got there twice
and had to settle for FGs, though. The first time, forcing the Rams'
first FG, Jackson immediately lost two, as fullback Paul Smith appeared
to keep him from hitting the left-side hole in time. This time, he
immediately lost three behind poor edge blocking from Smith and Joe
Klopfenstein, and a 3rd Ram FG loomed. The Ram running game wasn't
clutch down the stretch, either; Jackson got stuffed three times trying
to run some clock early in the 4th before Scott Linehan got pass-happy.
Then in the last 4:00, when you'd hoped he'd grind the Big Dead down,
he lost a yard, and Linehan got pass-happy again before Bulger's
near-critical fumble. Steven didn't dominate in the typical sense, but
was a big part of defusing the Arizona blitz with draw plays and screen
passes. He had a good game, but Rams Nation wouldn't be wrong to ask
for more of a closer mentality out of him, too. Put the team on your
shoulders in the red zone and down the stretch with a lead, 39. They're
broad enough. Killer instinct will make you a truly dominating back.

* WR: For the first time this year, Torry Holt (8-120) looked like an
elite player again, taking over the game in the 2nd quarter. He made an
amazing catch for 23 to kick off the Rams' first scoring drive,
reaching behind Antrell Rolle and tipping the sideline pass with his
left hand up to his right for a one-handed catch. After Isaac Bruce
(3-79) converted a third down with a disputed catch, Torry drew a
disputed DPI from Rolle to set up the FG, which was forced by a, well,
disputed incompletion in the back of the end zone that should have been
a TD for Holt. But Torry turned the dial up to 11 the next possession,
making the game a nightmare for unlucky stand-in CB Matt Ware. Torry
torched Ware off the line for a 42-yard catch-and-run (though he
chicken-heartedly flopped to the ground in front of Adrian Wilson at
midfield - put a move on him!) Chastised by that, Ware stayed a mile
off Torry to allow a 13-yard catch down to the Arizona 10, and Torry
beat him one more time for the Rams' TD, dooming Ware with an
inside-outside move. Aaron Walker got the Rams going after halftime
with a 16-yard rumble, followed by a 28-yarder to Bruce, though Holt
couldn't finish the drive off with a TD on that rollout play
they've run in close the last two weeks, getting into a multiple-flag
fracas with Robert Griffith instead. Up 16-7, the Rams appeared to put
it away with a 45-yard bomb to Bruce tightroping the sideline, but
Shaun McDonald (2-16) fumbled the next pass away. It's really still a
2-WR attack, but Torry Holt reminded everyone he's still a dominating
WR, and Isaac Bruce reminded them not to go to sleep on him. Still a
dangerous 1-2 punch.

* Offensive line: The offensive line was clearly a big part of the win,
but had its moments of ineffectiveness. Kendrick Clancy pushed Adam
Timmerman like an empty grocery shopping cart into Bulger to force a
1st-quarter sack and fumble. Fortunately, Orlando Pace recovered.
Orlando played like he was still groggy early on, having a lot of
trouble with Bertran Berry, and false-starting to sabotage an early
drive. But most of the day, he and Alex Barron were able to either
handle their men or steer them back of Bulger so he could step up in
the pocket. Mark got superior pass protection most of the game,
(Clancy's was the only sack) including the 3rd-and-5 pass he
converted with Tony Fisher in the 3rd. But the next play, Richie
Incognito snapped the ball a mile over Marc's head, Jackson covered up
for a 16-yard-loss, and the Rams settled for their 2nd FG. Just one
sack allowed, with all the blitzing Arizona does, attests to the Rams'
excellent job picking up the blitz. Tony Fisher and Joe Klopfenstein
did a nice job on the 28-yard completion to Bruce in the 3rd. The
running game in the red zone, along with the end of the game, remains
an issue. Part of that is that the Rams have to get better play out of
their fullbacks, and Klop's blocking also has to improve. But the Ram
blockers bounced back from their 6-sack performance in San Francisco in
a big way today.

* Defensive line/LB: The Rams had only one sack, but that just hides
the key plays a little bit. Ram blitzes had Kurt Warner throwing before
he wanted to throughout the game, and he didn't have a good day. At
all. Edgerrin James (24-94) was effective, though. The first Arizona TD
was helped by Jimmy Kennedy's offsides penalty and a weird formation
on a 3rd-and-3. Brandon Green was lined up way inside the tackle, and
Edge ran that direction for 9, with the LT picking off Fakhir Brown.
With the Rams trailing 7-3, I'm not certain Will Witherspoon didn't
make one of the game's key plays, even though it was a penalty. He
hit Warner HARD HARD HARD on a blitz near midfield, but it was a
helmet-to-helmet hit. If not loopy, Warner still made a loopy play a
bit later, ignoring an open, gesticulating Edge and forcing one for
Fitzgerald, covered by WW and Pisa Tinoisamoa, who batted the pass away
for a huge INT. Before that play, Victor Adeyanju (!) caught Boldin at
the end of a 34-yard play, possibly saving a TD. Adeyanju led the team
in tackles (6) and was also a monster rusher today, judging by the
number of times he got held. Anthony Hargrove seems a
nice-though-mixed-up guy, but he's lost his starting job in my eyes
after Victor's performance today. Up 16-7, the Rams made a goal line
stand that seemed game-winning. Raonall Smith stopped Edge on
1st-and-goal from the 2. WW stuck him at the 1 on 2nd down. On 3rd, the
Big Dead decided to get cute with a play-action pass, but Leonard
Little, who pressured Warner all day, tugged Kurt's sleeve as he
threw, and what could have been a pass to the TE at the back of the end
zone instead went right to Dexter Coakley for a major INT. (Last
year's Rams would have dropped that INT.) The Rams stuffed the next
Arizona drive as well. Adeyanju and Kennedy stuffed a James run, and
Little nearly sacked Warner twice, flushing him into Smith and Green
for a sack on third down. Then they seemed to lose their legs. Warner
eluded Little and LaRoi Glover to "scramble" for 9 on 3rd-and-7.
AUGH! Fitzgerald converted a third down and a fourth down, then James
wore them down for 31 yards and a TD on 5 touches. And then, they
couldn't even count on the offense to run the clock out properly,
having to retake the field with Arizona at the Ram 30. James promptly
ground out 12 yards, and the game was all but over. Except Warner had
one gift left in him. Jimmy Kennedy's super jump on the snap forced a
quick reaction from Arizona's RG, who punched the snap away from
Kurt, and Witherspoon fell on the fumble to save the day. You'd like
to see more sacks, but the front seven kept Warner under good pressure,
and Will Witherspoon continues to be a major playmaker, as good as any
MLB in the league right now. This defense can, and Will, win games.

* Secondary: The highlights of the secondary were big interceptions and
bad tackling. OJ Atogwe blew a tackle of Anquan Boldin (10-129) badly
to allow an initial Arizona 3rd-down conversion. (Arizona was 6-of-12
on 3rd down.) Tye Hill wrapped Boldin up nicely to end the first drive,
but he and Jerome Carter were run through by Larry Fitzgerald at the
goal line for Arizona's first TD. Travis Fisher followed that TD with
a good series, holdin' Boldin to 3 on 2nd-and-6, then blitzing Warner
for an incompletion. But Travis would return to his Least Physical CB
Ever persona, letting Boldin brutally drag away from him for 34 in the
2nd. The secondary did a lousy job limiting YAC today. Fisher was
bailed out by Victor Adeyanju's tackle and OJ Atogwe's goal line
INT off Pisa Tinoisamoa's deflection. The Rams turned that into a TD,
followed by an FG after Fakhir Brown's superb diving INT on
Arizona's next play. Up 16-7, Fisher's at it again, with terrible
coverage and tackling to let Bryant Johnson get away for 55 yards. This
time, Travis would get bailed out by a great goal line stand, ending
with the Coakley INT. They seemed helpless to stop short timing passes
to the big Arizona WRs down the stretch, so physicality, especially
Fisher's pathetic tackling, remain a major issue for the Ram
secondary, though neutralized today by Brown's and Atogwe's big
plays.

* Special teams: Jeff Wilkins' leg decided another game for the Rams,
with 26, 47 and 21-yard FGs. MVP of the team? Hell, how about the whole
league? Jeff's deep kickoffs also contributed to beautiful kick
coverage. After the Rams' first FG, six Rams were inside the 20 before
JJ Arrington got there, with Jerome Carter getting the tackle.
Arrington returned 1 of 4 kicks across the 21, and that was just to the
28. Ram special teams are getting it done. Matt Turk averaged just 38 a
punt; his 31-yard clunker in the 1st set up Arizona's first TD drive.
He also had a brutal 23-yarder erased by a penalty. He had good hang
time on his punt with :05 left, but once again, that kick has to be out
of bounds, or you're risking a long return, or a free kick. Not just
the Ram coaches, but Turk himself has been around long enough, to know
that rule.

* Coaching/discipline: There was a lot of talk of Scott Linehan
bringing back parts of the Mike Martz offense for today's game, which I
fear is going to lead to a lot of giving credit to Martz for the win. I
don't think Mike Martz invented any of the patterns Ram receivers got
open on today. I think it's just a matter of Linehan using more of the
old plays and routes that the players were more comfortable running.
Actually, that's a compromise that should have been made in training
camp; I hope it's one Linehan maintains. A big reason the Rams won
today was that Linehan did something Martz seemed obstinate about his
last couple of years. In St. Louis in late '04, Adrian Wilson blitzed
just about every play, and Martz did nothing to counter it. Today,
Linehan counterpunched beautifully against the Arizona blitz, with tidy
little middle screens and draw plays that Jackson broke off for big
gains. Wilson was virtually a non-factor. For all the good strategic
moves, Linehan also made a variety of mistakes, the biggest being NOT
PUNTING OUT OF BOUNDS with 0:05 left in the game. I also thought the
Rams should have run a couple of times more in the fourth quarter than
they did, since incomplete passes? Stop the clock. And the Rams won
again despite not being productive enough in the red zone. It might be
time to give the
roll-Marc-out-and-look-for-Torry-in-the-back-of-the-end-zone play a
rest, for instance. Jackson's first run-for-loss inside the 10 looked
like it was a block away from being a big play, but the second time,
Linehan called a sweep right behind a couple of questionable blockers
in Klop and Paul Smith. Maybe run to Pace's side and pull Timmerman?
That play's got a pretty good history of success. Better than the
much-too-cute play called when Bulger fumbled; that was supposed to be
a play fake to Hedgecock left and a flip toss to Jackson right. A
pretty risky play when you're running out the clock. Then again, why
the didn't Denny Green have Warner falling on the ball
once the Big Dead got inside the 20? In retrospect, that's the most
idiotic (non)move of the day, and further proof of how lousy the
Arizona coach is at clock management.
Something else that has a pretty good history of recent success is
blitzing Kurt Warner. Larry Marmie was too stupid to do it last year,
but it was a big part of Jim Haslett's winning strategy today. Blitzes
stopped several Big Dead drives and also yielded Witherspoon's big hit
of Warner in the 2nd. Adeyanju was in position to get the tackle of
Boldin on his 34-yarder in the 2nd, and save a TD, because he was
dropped back on a zone blitz. With Arizona 1st-and-10 at the Ram 18
with about 1:40 left, there would have been some logic to letting
Arizona score quickly, so the Rams could get the ball back, instead of
letting them run the clock down to nothing and kick an "automatic" FG.
So, whether Haslett considered it or not, it worked out that he
remembered nothing is automatic, not even the center-QB exchange.

* Upon further review: I won't pretend to be unbiased here, but it
looked like Bill Carollo and crew did a solid job today, except for the
catch Torry Holt made in the back of the end zone while being pushed
out in the 1st. That should have been called a TD. The push kept him
from getting both feet in. That's one of the easier examples of that
call, and I can't figure how the refs missed it. Lots of pivotal calls
in this game. Arizona challenged a Bruce catch in the 2nd where it
appeared Isaac had the ball and "dotted the i" with each foot before
stepping out of bounds. Prior to Holt's non-TD catch, Antrell Rolle was
flagged for a long DPI covering Holt that could have been dual
penalties. Late in the game, Arizona challenged that Holt had not made
a 3rd-and-2 catch, but it looks like he had possession and a knee on
the ground before the ball came loose. And the last play of the game
was something else. Time expires while the punt is in the air, but
Arizona was offsides on the play. Linehan and the coaches run onto the
field, thinking they'll decline the penalty and the game is over. But
Arizona starts readying for a 77-yard free kick, which the rules allow
after a fair catch to end a half. Figuring that out, the Ram staff
changes its mind, and Carollo, after a LOT of conferencing, lets the
Rams accept the penalty and get the ball back on 4th down, with a
kneeldown ending the game. Significant calls went the Rams' way, but it
looked like Carollo and crew got those calls right.

* Cheers: Brad Sham, the regular Dallas radio announcer, and Bill Maas
did a wonderful job with this game for Fox. Sham's play-by-play was
expert. He not only kept us up-to-date well on down-and-distance, he
helped viewers out by noting formations and even play-calling trends,
like all the Ram runs with 3 WR sets. Maas' analysis was good, they got
names right, they covered up each other's (infrequent) mistakes well
like a well-polished broadcast team. Amazing how good a broadcast can
be when it's done by football guys instead of a Roshambo guy. And their
humor was much better than Matt Vasgersian's attempts at stand-up last
week. Sham after Holt's TD: "Somebody look for (defending DB) Matt
Ware's underwear". Maas during a sideline shot of a scowling Arizona
lineman: "That look will curl spaghetti around the fork without the
spoon". Maas after halftime talking about turnovers: "You have to take
care of the taco". How'd he find out about the Pink Taco Dome? And I
can't leave out Jim Hanifan's immortal radio call after Warner's
fumble: "I got a cramp!" I think he hurt himself celebrating.
Hilarious.

* Who's next?: He's baaaaack!!! The name of the Detroit Lions' head
coach (Rod Marinelli) isn't a well-known one right now, but all of Rams
Nation can sure identify the Lions' offensive coordinator: former head
coach/pariah Mike Martz, the architect of one of the greatest offenses
the NFL has seen. The media in St. Louis have many more story lines
available to them than the looming battle of the coordinators, Martz
vs. Jim Haslett, however. Detroit's first visit to St. Louis in the
Rams era will see at least seven reunion subplots. In the Detroit
secondary, there's former Ram Dre Bly, Torry Holt's brother Terrence
and St. Louis native Jamar Fletcher. WR Az Hakim is back, as well as
never-should-have-become-a-safety Mike Furrey. Camera magnet Tyoka
Jackson (who also has lined up in Detroit's goal line packages) is
back, and who could forget Rex Tucker?

Actually, Rex may not be a bad person to start with when breaking this
game down. Unsurprisingly, Martz has the Lions throwing twice as much
as they run. That worked for 342 yards and 2 TDs against Green Bay, but
that's the league's #31 defense. Jon Kitna is not a QB with good
pocket presence and will throw terrible passes under pressure. And
pressure should come from his right all day next Sunday, since the
Lions/Martz still think career GUARD Tucker can play RT. He should be
as big a liability over there as he was for the Rams early last season.
I shouldn't single Rex out so much; the whole Lion offensive line is
bad, which figures to hobble Martz's offense until they "get it
fixed". They're allowing 4 sacks a game, and RB Kevin Jones
averages just 3.7 a rush. Admittedly, some of that comes from playing
Seattle and Chicago the first two weeks, but so, too, does Martz have
Jones the power back running outside a lot - sound familiar? The Ram
defense has changed a lot, but they ought to know how to, and stop, the
Lion offense, especially with Jim Haslett matching wits with Michigan
Madness. Blitzes should be pouring unchecked through Detroit's line
all day. Then again, Martz knows the Ram defense, too. Expect a lot of
3- and 4-WR sets to keep Tye Hill on the field, and Martz ought to be
picking on Fisher all he can, knowing Travis can't tackle. Travis vs.
big, fast Roy Williams is a bad mismatch Martz should try to get as
often as he can, and the Rams could get into trouble if they can't
handle Roy.

Same goes offensively for Shaun Rogers, the elite defensive tackle
Detroit drafted well after the Rams picked Damione Lewis and Ryan
Pickett in 2001. He dominated the Rams' shocking loss in Detroit in
2003 and probably will have to draw a day-long double-team. The Lions
are actually one of the league's better run defenses right now -
they shut down Shaun Alexander Opening Day - and stand a good chance
of forcing the Rams to go to the air. There's where we'll find out
if Marc Bulger's found his consistency, and if Torry Holt has come to
play. Frankly, Torry loafed the game in '03 against his good friend
Dre and little brother Terrence. He needs to bring a "Holt Bowl"
attitude and bring it next week like he brought it today. Bly's a
good cover man, but a suspect tackler. Fernando Bryant has barely
played the last two seasons. Detroit's safeties are hard hitters but
not great cover guys. The Lion defense is a Tampa-2 offshoot; they
don't come from a philosophy that blitzes a lot. If the Rams hold the
line straight-up, Bulger and the WRs ought to move the ball downfield
well.

This game's filled with shoulds and oughts. The Rams "should"
have lost to Denver. They "should" have beaten San Francisco.
Today, expectations were that they "should" lose to Arizona. So
far, it's good they haven't done what they "should". That ends
Sunday against Detroit, an inferior team with a poor road record and an
offense that the Rams "should" know how to stop. The road win today
was a great building block for Scott Linehan's team, but they really
need to capitalize on it by winning at home next week over a team that
is worse than them, and keep Mike Martz's ghost at bay. No couldas,
no wouldas, no shouldas, no oughtas. These are the kinds of wins you
need to be a contender at the end of the season.